Salmon Kings’ Top GunsFinding Their Mark

VICTORIA, British Columbia – Like a contestant in that old show What’s My Line, it seems the real Olivier Latendresse has stepped forward.

It’s been worth the wait as the darting winger has led the Victoria Salmon Kings’ four-game ECHL winning streak with nine points, including a two-goal, four-point performance in Wednesday’s night’s 7-2 dismantling of the Edmonton Oilers-affiliate Stockton Thunder.

What’s my line? The first line, of course, for Latendresse as he and captain Wes Goldie and Olivier Filion are finally beginning to look like a top unit heading into the concluding two games of the set against Stockton Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

It’s taken awhile for this array of Salmon Kings forwards to place their stamp of personality on the season. It is perhaps a less physical group than some S-Kings forward corps of the past that have included the likes of Kiel McLeod, Milan Gajic and Darryl Lloyd. But it is beginning to look no less skilled.

“I had an eight-month injury, and the effects lasted into the past summer, and that’s one of the reasons it took me longer to get started than normally,” said team points leader Latendresse, a graduate of the Val d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Major Junior League, whose recent output has upped his production to nine goals and 25 points in 26 games.